Daily Tip: Divide and Conquer

Big tasks can prove overwhelming for anyone. “Build an app!” or “Turn around a struggling startup!” are the sorts of orders that would give even the most battle-hardened manager, executive, or developer a serious panic attack.

As Kevin Spacey’s character said in House of Cards, the best way to eat a whale is one bite at a time. If you find yourself overcome by the scope of a big project, grab a whiteboard or a large piece of paper and break the task into as many small bits as possible. Building a mobile app? Decide on a platform, evaluate the market, design the UX, make sure you’re registered as a developer… you get the idea.

Once even a gargantuan assignment is reduced to twenty easy (or relatively easy) steps, it suddenly seems a lot smaller.